The ski industry presently uses an industry standard wire/label system for securing a lift pass, purchased by the skier, to the latter's outer ski garment. The wire of such a system is so shaped, typically in the form of a planar triangular frame with a split opening along the bottom of the triangle, so as to define an aperture which after being threaded through a closed mechanical loop on the skier's outer ski garment, such as a zipper eyelet or sewn in loop for such purpose, is covered by a self-adhesive label. When used properly, the label is folded in half over the wire, covering the opening along the bottom of the triangle and adhering to itself, adhesive to adhesive, permanently through and outside the wire aperture, thereby embracing the wire. The top of the triangle remains free and allowed to swing through the closed loop on the skier's garment. Removal of the pass should lead to complete destruction of the pass; a feature which is preferred by the ski areas to prevent transfer of the lift pass which would result in a loss of revenue to the ski area. However, a common practice of skills is to adhere one label over another, or in some cases insert a piece of the label peel off backing, thereby placing the self-adhesive backings in contact with a plastic or coated paper stock, to which it was not designed to adhere, particulary in extreme cold or hot conditions. In such cases the label has been known to fall off accidentally, and in many more cases, removed by the skier and transferred to a second non-paying skier.
The wire/label system presents a number of operational problems to the ski area operator, including a significant litter problem when skiers discard the label backing which becomes a third item to hang on to and an inconvenient obstacle when adhering the now detached label at sub-zero temperatures. Labels have also been a problem with new high speed printers that run at much higher heats, resulting in the label leaving the backing to which it is applied and causing label roll-up in the printer, further resulting in significant repair costs and down time of the printer. The wires, despite extraordinary packaging efforts to prevent such mishap, are difficult to present to the skier without tangling, similar to the handling of wire coat hangers. It has been estimated that as few as half of the wires purchased by the ski area will actually be used for the purpose of their purchase, with the balance left tangled in the snow until picked up by ski area staff, or thrown out by ski area staff after becoming entangled during the process of presenting them for the ski areas skiers.
A further note of the wire is that because of its rigidity, the wire when embraced by the label, may be cut in two below the surface of the label and still provide the skier with sufficient confidence it will not fall of, not be visibly noticeable by ski area security policing for such unacceptable and illegal activity, and have sufficient pull strength that when physically challenged by security policing for such unacceptable and illegal activity may go unnoticed. Such practice is used by thieves sharing the same single user pass.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a more secure, litter free, and easier to apply day pass system for ski areas, as well as for such uses as a "tagable seal" in mechanical and electrical safety lock out procedures, airline luggage tags, or other applications that require a secure means of fastening a specific hang tag to a specific object such as a person or device. Further, the fastener of this invention offers the ski area a lift pass system that includes a new revenue generating promotional opportunity when used with a perforated hang tag that includes a detachable coupon offer. In industrial practices, the detachable area of the hang tag may act as a receipt for the proof of use of the specific hang tag and would in most cases include a number that corresponds with a number that would remain with the section attached permanently to the fastener.
These and other objects will become apparent from a reading of this specification as a whole.